title: Voices from the past: comparing the rapid prompting method and facilitated communication.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This article briefly reviews the history and damage caused by facilitated communication (FC) and highlights the parallels between FC and the Rapid Prompting Method (RPM).
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  FC involves a therapist (or facilitator) supporting the hand of a person with autism while a message is typed on a letter board. FC is widely acknowledged to be a pseudoscientific, unsafe, and unethical treatment for people with autism. RPM is a more recent intervention for people with autism that involves the facilitator holding and moving the letter board while the individual with autism moves their own hand. Those who espouse the perceived benefits of FC and RPM make strikingly similar claims of hidden intelligence and extraordinary communication abilities in people with autism following treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Clients, proponents, and practitioners of RPM should demand scientific validation of RPM in order to ensure the safety of people with disabilities that are involved with RPM.
authors.affiliation: Clinic for Autism Research Evaluation and Support, Texas State University-San Marcos , San Marcos, TX , USA.
authors.forename: Amy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tostanoski
authors.forename: Russell
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lang
authors.forename: Tracy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Raulston
authors.forename: Amarie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carnett
authors.forename: Tonya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Davis
mesh_terms: D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D003142:Communication; D003143:Communication Devices for People with Disabilities / Q000266:history*; D003147:Communication Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D008369:Manual Communication; D011781:Quackery; D012046:Rehabilitation / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
keywords: Rapid Prompting Method; autism; communication; facilitated communication; intervention; pseudoscience